Riot police storm Facebook party in Mayfair as 2,000 teenagers take over £10m house

Riot police were pelted with bricks and bottles as they evicted more than 2,000 teenagers from an illegal Facebook party in Park Lane.

The trouble erupted as officers tried to clear revellers from an empty £20 million property shortly after the party started last night.

There were fears of a serious accident at the abandoned building as dozens of people swarmed onto the roof. Two party-goers were hurt and taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Neighbours spoke today of how hundreds of people raced though Dunraven Street, behind the Park Lane property, smashing bottles and cars.

Revellers also broke windows on the five-storey house and sprayed graffiti on the walls. Night porter, Peter Bateile, who works next door, said: "People were trying to jump onto the roof of our building. There were so many squatters. They threw down lots of bottles and glasses into our gardens.

"They have been there for two months causing a nuisance to the neighbourhood and they have totally ruined that house. It's really good they have been removed."

Another neighbour, mother of two Kalpa Patel, 32, said: "It's terrible. They were charging £3 per person to get in. They were very drunk — drinking, swearing and banging on my door.

"My five and four-year-old kids were very scared and I had to call the police three or four times. There were 600-700 people outside and the building on all floors was totally packed.

"There were two girls sat in the chimney pot waving a flag and people were jumping on cars. They smashed three car windows and the whole street looked like a dustbin — with glass, bags and cans."

Courtney Love and her newly reformed band Hole had to cancel a gig at Proud in Camden as she was staying in the house next door to the rave.

Police would not let her leave, which left hundreds of fans at the Camden show disappointed.

She offered an apology on Twitter: "per PROUD kids there was as youllread tomorrow in the LOndon papers a MASSIVE riot tonight putside my HOUSE the cops wouldsnt let me leave [sic]." The party was organised on Facebook with an invitation promising "good vibes" over six floors and a huge sound system.

One of the organisers, 18-year-old sixth-form student and musician Oliver Appleyard, from Camden, expressed remorse today over the damage and disruption. He claimed to be part of a collective called Future Children, which is protesting against a lack of live music venues and the issue of homelessness in London.

He told the Standard: "We found out that this house was owned by a bank, so it felt right to hold the party there.

"What's really sad is that this is not what we wanted. We wanted people to have a good time and to be safe. We did have lots of friends controlling the situation, but a small majority were badly behaved. We did have the feeling this morning of, Oh God, I hope nothing serious happened'. The average age was 16-18, so that age group was always going to be hard to control."

He added: "We are part of a group of young people who find little unused spaces and use them for things like art events. We're rebelling against the Government — there are lots of homeless people in this country and houses sitting empty like this." One party-goer, teenager James Anstruther, tweeted from within the house "this place is amazing" before giving live updates of the police raid.

At 1.30am he wrote "There's like 300 riot police outside. Closed down whole of Marble Arch," and "F***ing riot police just raided. Batons and all. Intense."

Another tweeter, Fiona Hicks, said: "new york fashion week [sic] can stick it, i'm on top of a £30,000,000 park lane mansion squat party doing lines off the roof."

Scotland Yard said police were called at 11pm and it took officers about two hours to clear the building.

Riot officers were deployed with shields and batons to prevent revellers causing more damage in neighbouring streets. Park Lane, Marble Arch and parts of Oxford Street were closed as the operation took place. He added: "There were fears for people's safety because of the state of the building. There were a few missiles being lobbed but we managed to use old fashioned loud-hailers to clear the building. "

The house was bought for £10 million in February 2007 and is registered to a limited company based in Jersey. The owner is rumoured to be a Middle Eastern businessman.